We quantified the difference between the meteorological temperature recorded by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) weather stations and the actual microclimatic temperatures at two or three different heights at six potential insect habitats. We then compared the impact of the hourly temperature on the extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of six pathogens. Finally, we developed a regression model, enabling us to predict the microclimatic temperatures of different habitats based on five standard meteorological parameters readily available from any meteorological institution...

BACKGROUND: Vector-borne diseases of dogs in Australian Aboriginal communities are relatively unexplored. These dogs represent a unique group with variable ecto- and endo-parasitic burdens, nutritional stresses and a general lack of veterinary intervention. We investigated haemoprotozoal and bacterial pathogen prevalences in relation to erythrocyte and platelet numbers in dogs from North-West New South Wales (N-W NSW) and the Northern Territory (NT; Central Australia). METHODS: Real-time PCR (qPCR) amplification of Anaplasma platys, Babesia vogeli, Mycoplasma haemocanis, Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum and Bartonella spp...

Ornithodoros erraticus and Ornithodoros moubata are argasid tick vectors that transmit severe diseases such as African swine fever and human relapsing fever. Elimination of the synanthropic populations of these vectors would facilitate the control of these diseases. Fluralaner is a novel isoxazoline that selectively blocks the GABA- and glutamate-gated channels, providing potent insecticidal and acaricidal activity. The aim of the current study was to provide quantitative data on the susceptibility of males, females and third nymphal instar of O...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an arthropod-borne bunyavirus that can cause serious and fatal disease in humans and animals. RVFV is a negative-sense RNA virus of the Phlebovirus genus in the Bunyaviridae family. The main envelope RVFV glycoproteins, Gn and Gc, are encoded on the M segment of RVFV and known inducers of protective immunity. In an attempt to develop a safe and efficacious RVF vaccine, we constructed and tested a vectored equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine that expresses RVFV Gn and Gc...

INTRODUCTION: Dengue is a rapidly emerging vector-borne Neglected Tropical Disease, with a 30-fold increase in the number of cases reported since 1960. The economic cost of the illness is measured in the billions of dollars annually. Environmental change and unplanned urbanization are conspiring to raise the health and economic cost even further beyond the reach of health systems and households. The health-sector response has depended in large part on control of the Aedes aegypti and Ae...

To better track public health events in areas where the public health system is unable or unwilling to report the event to appropriate public health authorities, agencies can conduct event-based surveillance, which is defined as the organized collection, monitoring, assessment, and interpretation of unstructured information regarding public health events that may represent an acute risk to public health. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Global Disease Detection Operations Center (GDDOC) was created in 2007 to serve as CDC's platform dedicated to conducting worldwide event-based surveillance, which is now highlighted as part of the "detect" element of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA)...

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania for which there is a paucity of effective viable non-toxic drugs. There are 1·3 million new cases each year causing considerable socio-economic hardship, best measured in 2·4 million disability adjusted life years, with greatest impact on the poorest communities, which means that desperately needed new antileishmanial treatments have to be both affordable and accessible. Established medicines with cheaper and faster development times may hold the cure for this neglected tropical disease...

Human lymphatic filariasis is a vector-borne disease mainly caused by the parasitic nematode Wuchereria bancrofti and transmitted worldwide within the tropical and subtropical regions. Singapore was once endemic for bancroftian filariasis but recent reports are scarce and the disease is nearly forgotten. The case report presented here reports the incidental hospital laboratory finding of an asymptomatic microfilaremia in a relapsing Plasmodium vivax imported case during a malaria treatment follow-up appointment...

Babesia canis and Dirofilaria immitis are emerging and geographically overlapping vector-borne pathogens in dogs. Infection with B. canis leads to acute-phase response (APR) that can be mild to severe and results in either non-complicated or complicated forms of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether acute B. canis infection is more severe in dogs with underlying asymptomatic D. immitis infection. Dogs of both sexes, different ages and breeds, with naturally occurring mono-infections with B...

Vibrio cholerae is the cause of cholera, a devastating epidemic and pandemic disease. Despite its importance, the way of its global dissemination is unknown. V. cholerae is abundant in aquatic habitats and is known to be borne by copepods, chironomids and fishes. Our aim was to determine if fish-eating birds act as vectors in the spread of V. cholerae by consuming infected fish. We determined the existence of V. cholerae in the microbiome of 5/7 wild cormorants' intestine. In three of these V. cholerae-positive wild cormorants, the presence of a gene for cholera toxin (ctxA) was detected...

Small mammals are key components of numerous tick-borne disease systems, as hosts for immature ticks and pathogen reservoirs. To study the factors influencing tick-borne infection in small mammals, we trapped small mammals and collected questing ticks in spring and autumn in 2012 and 2013 at 24 sites in a 10x15 km rural landscapes (Brittany, France). Tissue samples were screened by real-time PCR for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Of the two dominant small mammal species captured, bank voles (Myodes glareolus) had higher prevalence than wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) for both infections, presumably because of specific differences in immunological defenses...

Ticks are efficient vectors of arboviruses, although less than 10% of tick species are known to be virus vectors. Most tick-borne viruses (TBV) are RNA viruses some of which cause serious diseases in humans and animals world-wide. Several TBV impacting human or domesticated animal health have been found to emerge or re-emerge recently. In order to survive in nature, TBV must infect and replicate in both vertebrate and tick cells, representing very different physiological environments. Information on molecular mechanisms that allow TBV to switch between infecting and replicating in tick and vertebrate cells is scarce...

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne zoonotic disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania, which are responsible for numerous clinical manifestations, such as cutaneous, visceral, and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, depending on the site of infection for particular species. These complexities threaten 350 million people in 98 countries worldwide. Amastigotes living within macrophage phagolysosomes are the principal target of antileishmanial treatment, but these are not an easy target as drugs must overcome major structural barriers...

Dengue is currently the highest and rapidly spreading vector-borne viral disease, which can lead to mortality in its severe form. The globally endemic dengue poses as a public health and economic challenge that has been attempted to suppress though application of various prevention and control techniques. Therefore, broad spectrum techniques, that are efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable, are proposed and practiced in dengue-endemic regions. The development of vaccines and immunotherapies have introduced a new dimension for effective dengue control and prevention...

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive cancer arising from epithelial cells of the bile duct. Most patients with CCA have an unresectable tumor at the time of diagnosis. In Western countries, the risk of CCA increases in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis, whereas liver fluke infection appears to be the major risk factor for CCA in Asian countries. A diagnosis of liver fluke infection often relies on stool samples, including microscopic examination, polymerase chain reaction-based assays, and fluke antigen detection...

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). Rift Valley fever affects a large number of species, including human, and has severe impact on public health and the economy, especially in African countries. The present study examined the vector competence of three different European mosquito species, Culex pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758) form molestus (Diptera: Culicidae), Culex pipiens hybrid form and Stegomyia albopicta (= Aedes albopictus) (Skuse, 1894) (Diptera: Culicidae)...

Tembusu virus (TMUV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, which was first isolated in the tropics during the 1970s. Recently, a disease characterized by ovarian haemorrhage and neurological symptoms was observed in ducks in China, which threatens poultry production. However, there is no suitable vaccination strategy or effective antiviral drugs to combat TMUV infections. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop a new anti-TMUV therapy. In this study, we report an efficient short hairpin RNA (shRNA) delivery strategy for the inhibition of TMUV production using an adenovirus vector system...

The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) is well-known in ecology providing an explanation for the role of disturbance in the coexistence of climax and colonist species. Here, we used the IDH as a framework to describe the role of forest disturbance in shaping the mosquito community structure, and to identify the ecological processes that increase the emergence of vector-borne disease. Mosquitoes were collected in central Panama at immature stages along linear transects in colonising, mixed and climax forest habitats, representing different levels of disturbance...

Babesiosis is a globally important zoonotic disease caused by tick-borne intraerythrocytic protozoan of the genus Babesia (phylum apicomplexa). In China, there are five species that infect cattle buffalo and cause great economic loss, which include Babesia bigemina, B. bovis, B. major, B. ovata, and B. orientalis. Among them, B. orientalis is the most recently identified new Babesia species epidemic in China. This review summarized the work done in the past 33 years to give an overview of what learned about this parasite...